Lately, I’ve been really out of it. I know I haven’t written about the trip to the Philippines. But, I realized that My Journey to Faith is much more than just three weeks. A journey to faith is a journey to my life.

I’ll start with these pictures. The first three pictures were the ultrasound of my daughter. Now that I think about it, it has been over a year..

The moment I knew I was pregnant (being a single, teenager), I was nervous, scared, confused, and most of all, I was thinking about how to tell my parents. But through all those emotions, there was happiness.

I never intended to be a young mother. Looking back at my future plans, I wanted to be married and be settled before having one; probably what every single girl plans of. I knew I would face a lot of problems; whether it was with my parents, my friends, my relatives, and myself. Those problems shot me down a couple of times, but what really kept me going is knowing that I have a little blessing inside of me.

I know well enough to keep her because I know how it is being adopted and I just didn’t have the guts to abort. I faced a lot of critics (mostly people that I don’t even know) saying that I’m so irresponsible, stupid, and of course, I will have no future.

But you know what? I held my head up high and told myself, I have to fight these battles.. Not to prove them wrong, but because I know that I would never let anyone’s words slow me down.

I kept going and I proudly say up to this day, that I graduated high school on stage with my class. I am proud to say that I am still surviving, and my daughter is healthy and getting all the love, care, and things that she needs.

And last but not least, I am proud to say that I have the perseverance to commit to God’s calling to me being a mother to one beautiful daughter.

FAMILY (Forget About Me, I Love You):

     Honestly, I never actually realized how much I’ve missed my family members until I got here. Family, to me, is much more than just people that have the same blood as you. They are people who accepts you even if you have neglected them, who forgives you even if you hurt them, who loves you even if you tend to say you hate them, and who will always love you unconditionally. The people in the pictures accepted me even if I’m not family by blood. When I don’t know what to do and when I’m at my lowest, I can come to them for help.

     God gave them to me as one of my biggest blessings in life. They will always be there for us no matter what. Family doesn’t have to always be by blood, they can be anyone; friends, adopted family, etc. We all belong to one, and I thank God for mine everyday.

A JOURNEY TO FAITH PROJECT.

     Hi! My name is Tiff. Five years ago, I lived a life without God. I mean I believed there was a God, but I never really honored him as He should be. All of these changed due to the help of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Youth Group. They helped me realize that there is a bigger purpose to life than just having fun; I learned to live life to serve God and His commandments. I found my faith and started exploring it for the past four years. And by doing so, it helped me keep myself grounded and helped me become a better person than I was five years ago.

     I learned that faith is believing in something that one can not see. But faith, to me, is one of the greatest things an individual can have. It’s a relationship with God, which is something that I can not have with any other human being. Faith, honestly, is what keeps me coming back to Him no matter what the predicament is. Most importantly, faith, is a big part of who I am. It builds me up whenever I am broken or in the verge of breaking.

     I am not a perfect Christian/Catholic. I have my flaws and at times, I admit that I tend to forget about my faith. So, I am doing and committing to this project for the next three weeks which I call, “A Journey To Faith.” It is a way for me to share on how I will be exploring deeper in my faith in my homeland, the Philippines. From twelve years of experience, I learned the traditions that Filipinos do during the Holy Week but never really understood why we do them. So, I am here to share what I will be learning. I will be posting up pictures and videos about my experience throughout the next three weeks. I hope you guys enjoy my journey to faith.